Town Square

Motorists are the problem, not cyclists

Original post made
by Renee Batti, news editor of The Almanac,
on Apr 4, 2007

The following letter by Robert Cronin was published in the Almanac's April 4 print edition:
Editor:
Let's turn Maria Ploeger's (Letters, March 21) question around: Bicyclists and pedestrians are not put in danger by other bicyclists and pedestrians.
Why then, would parents knowingly put children in danger by driving anywhere near a school?Robert Cronin
Marmona Drive, Menlo Park

Posted by Common Sense
a resident of Menlo Park: Downtown
on Apr 7, 2007 at 10:07 am

We create the world we want to live in. Drive your kids every where. Feed them junk and let them zone out on computer games.
It's your choice.
Let fear drive your decisions?
We'll see what kind of adults are produced with this mode of parenting.

Posted by Safety conscious mom
a resident of Laurel School
on Apr 7, 2007 at 10:45 am

Uh yeah, that's the logical next step. If we don't allow our kids to bike in heavy traffic, then obviously we are the kinds of parents who feed our kids junk food and let them watch television all the time. We're only concerned about their safety because we want them to grow up to be useless adults instead of winding up in a morgue before they turn 10 years old.

A teenage driver lost control of his car and ran onto Encinal school grounds yesterday, driving over the landscaping and stopping within inches of the building. Fortunately, school had not yet gotten out for the day and no one was injured. Instead of campaigning for kids to be out biking on our streets, maybe you should be asking parents of teens not to give them high powered cars that they cannot handle safely. As long as there are high school kids racing down Ringwood, I cannot imagine why any responsible parent would allow a child to bike on that street.

Posted by also safety conscious
a resident of Menlo-Atherton High School
on Apr 7, 2007 at 1:06 pm

I agree with "Safety Conscious Mom"
We've taught our children the importance of safe biking and driving, but we still drove ours to M-A across town because of safety concerns.

Bikers and pedestrians always lose when cars are involved in accidents.

"Common sense" doesn't understand that some of us established car pools to minimize the traffic impacts we and fellow parents might make, and our kids once they were the drivers. We make prudent decisions regarding safety decisions and concluded that we weren't willing to risk our childrens' lives by forcing them to bike when there aren't adequate or safe ways to do so between home and certain schools. For other schools, we've made different decisions.

We think it's time the school systems stepped up to address this matter. With the huge bond issues, there should be sufficient funds to do so.

Posted by Safe routes to School advocate
a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park
on Apr 7, 2007 at 5:26 pm

Finally, someone has brought up the concept of creating safe routes for our children to get to/from school. Let's start with reducing the speed on Middle Ave. which is the city's designated "safe route to school" street. 25 MPH instead of 30 MPH!
Next, let's get an undercrossing of the train tracks so that no child walking or riding a bicycle has to conquer the Ravenswood intersection. The Civic Center which features the pool, the library, the skateboard park, the baseball diamond and the soccer fields is a destination for many of the chlidren in Menlo Park. How can they get there without being driven by their parents.
Another project crying out for attention is the need for sidewalks on the north side of Santa Cruz Ave. so that the Hillview Middle School students don't have to walk in the street.

Is there a disconnect between how we Menlo Residents see ourselves and what we are actually willing to support and finally fight for? This new council needs to hear from parents. Start with Boyle. He seems to be the only one listening these days.

Posted by also safety conscious
a resident of Menlo-Atherton High School
on Apr 8, 2007 at 11:02 am

To "safe routes to school advocate" - I agree that community members need to speak to the council on safe routes around town, not just on behalf of children by the way. However, I find it highly inappropriate that you suggest only one councilmember listens.
Are you suggesting that the other councilmembers who are parents of young children (Cline, Fergusson, Robinson) and Cohen (I think he has an older child) really don't care about safety? Your divisive comments really get in the way of solving problems as a community.

The school provides crossing guards at the school sites, but in other communities the city also provides crossing guards along popular biking and walking routes to school. I hope that the City of Menlo Park will consider doing this as part of their joint effort with the school district to promote safe routes to school.